Data integrity checking for set-oriented data stores

Abstract

A method for determining data integrity for a set-oriented data store provides an integrity check mechanism within an application framework that provides object check values for one or more data objects in the set-oriented data store. The integrity check mechanism stores one or more predicate check values corresponding to predefined query predicates against the set-oriented data store, with each stored predicate check value updated as the set-oriented data store is updated such that the stored predicate check value is consistent with the object check values of all of the data objects that satisfy the corresponding predefined query predicate. When a query is submitted to the set-oriented data store, the integrity check mechanism verifies the integrity of a query result set by comparing one or more of the previously-stored predicate check values for the submitted query with corresponding predicate check values determined from the query result set.

1 . A method for determining data integrity in a set-oriented data store, the method comprising:
 providing an integrity check mechanism within an application framework for a set-oriented data store, the application framework operable to provide object check values for one or more data objects in the set-oriented data store;   using the integrity check mechanism to store one or more predicate check values corresponding to predefined query predicates against the set-oriented data store, with each stored predicate check value updated as the set-oriented data store is updated such that the stored predicate check value is consistent with the object check values of all of the data objects that satisfy the corresponding predefined query predicate; and   when a query is submitted to the set-oriented data store to access at least a portion of data within the data objects, verifying the integrity of a query result set containing the accessed data by comparing one or more of the previously-stored predicate check values for the submitted query with corresponding predicate check values determined from the query result set.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the integrity check mechanism ensures that any potential corruption of data within the set-oriented data store is detected and isolated with a substantially high level of assurance. 
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 storing the object check value for each of the one or more data objects with the data object in the set-oriented data store.   
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein verifying the integrity of the query result set further comprises restricting the data query to the predefined query predicates associated with the one or more previously-stored predicate check values. 
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein verifying the integrity of the query result set further comprises:
 determining whether one or more of the data objects returned with the query result set do not match the submitted query; and   removing the data objects that do not match from the query result set.   
   
   
       6 . A computer program product comprising program instructions, embodied on a machine-readable storage medium, the program instructions operable to cause at least one programmable processor in a programmable system to:
 provide an integrity check mechanism for a set-oriented data store of a programmable system for data recording, wherein the integrity check mechanism establishes the integrity of a plurality of data objects, each of the data objects having an associated object check value stored in a set-oriented data store, to ensure that any potential corruption of data recorded in the data objects of the set-oriented data store is detected and isolated with a substantially high level of assurance; and   when at least a portion of the data within the data objects is accessed by the programmable system in a data query, verify the integrity and completeness of the data returned from the data query based on a comparison of predicate check values determined from the returned data with one or more previously-stored predicate check values consistent with the object check values associated with each data object in the accessed portion of the data.   
   
   
       7 . The computer program product of  claim 6 , wherein the program instructions are further operable to cause the at least one programmable processor to:
 combine the associated object check values for each of the data objects that satisfy each predefined query predicate of the one or more previously-stored predicate check values.   
   
   
       8 . The computer program product of  claim 6 , wherein the program instructions that provide the integrity check mechanism for the set-oriented data store further cause the at least one programmable processor to:
 instruct the integrity check mechanism to define a plurality of data object partitions for the set-oriented data store that allow the at least one programmable processor to process an additional range of data queries.   
   
   
       9 . The computer program product of  claim 8 , wherein the program instructions that instruct the integrity check mechanism to define the plurality of data object partitions for the set-oriented data store further cause the at least one programmable processor to:
 request access to multiple types of data objects in the set-oriented data store with the additional range of data queries, the multiple types of data objects having a plurality of attributes.   
   
   
       10 . The computer program product of  claim 6 , wherein the computer program product comprises an application framework for the programmable system, the application framework comprising:
 an application layer comprising one or more data recording applications in the programmable system;   an integrity check layer responsive to one or more operation requests from the application layer, the integrity check layer further hosting the integrity check mechanism for the programmable system; and   a set-oriented data store layer responsive to the one or more operation requests from at least one of the integrity check layer and the application layer.   
   
   
       11 . The computer program product of  claim 10 , wherein the integrity check layer further comprises a restriction function, the restriction function operable to restrict the data query to at least one of a predefined set of query predicates associated with the one or more previously-stored predicate check values. 
   
   
       12 . The computer program product of  claim 6 , wherein the integrity check mechanism is operable to complete an insert request of an additional data object once all the corresponding predicate check values that the additional data object satisfies are updated. 
   
   
       13 . The computer program product of  claim 5 , wherein the integrity check mechanism is operable to complete a delete request of an existing data object once all the corresponding predicate check values associated with the existing data object are updated. 
   
   
       14 . An electronic device, comprising:
 a display element configured to receive navigation-related data from a set-oriented data store of an area surrounding an electronic device, the display element further operable to convey the navigation-related data to a user;   an application framework with an integrity check mechanism, the integrity check mechanism operable to provide at least one form of data integrity checking using corresponding object and predicate check values for one or more data objects containing the navigation-related data in the set-oriented data store;   wherein the integrity check mechanism stores one or more of the predicate check values corresponding to predefined query predicates against the set-oriented data store, with each stored predicate check value updated as the navigation-related data of the set-oriented data store is updated such that the stored predicate check value is consistent with the corresponding object check values of all of the data objects that satisfy the corresponding predefined query predicate; and   wherein the corresponding object and predicate check values are updated when the set-oriented data store is updated to ensure that any potential corruption of the navigation-related data is detected and isolated with a substantially high level of assurance.   
   
   
       15 . The device of  claim 14 , wherein the electronic device is a manned ground vehicle suitable for providing the navigation-related data to the display element and the user. 
   
   
       16 . The device of  claim 14 , wherein the set-oriented data store is a terrain database. 
   
   
       17 . The device of  claim 14 , wherein the application framework comprises:
 an application layer including a navigation-related application in the navigation device;   a integrity check layer responsive to one or more operation requests from the application layer, the integrity check layer configured to host the integrity check mechanism; and   a set-oriented data store layer responsive to the one or more operation requests from at least one of the integrity check layer and the application layer.   
   
   
       18 . The device of  claim 17 , wherein the integrity check mechanism in the integrity check layer ensures that a query result set generated in response to a query from the application layer for the navigation-related data contains each of the data objects that satisfy one or more particular query predicates determined from the query. 
   
   
       19 . The device of  claim 18 , wherein the integrity check mechanism in the integrity check layer removes the data objects that do not match the query submitted from the application layer. 
   
   
       20 . The device of  claim 18 , wherein the integrity check layer further comprises a restriction function operable to restrict the query from the application layer to previously-stored predicate check values corresponding to the data objects.